dance tips

I am a big time dreamer. It might behoove me to come down to planet earth from time to time, but I rather not tie myself down to a world of logic alone. When I dream, I get excited. I feel alive. I feel like anything is possible, and from that mindset, it’s the truth.

Yet…I haven’t always operated from this place and my guess is I’m not alone.

How quickly have you squashed your own dreams, or let someone else do the squashing? If something makes you feel alive and excited, then operating from this place is useful. It is your beautiful job to keep on dreaming, even when logic, yourself, or others are tempted to bring you down to earth. All those childhood songs have it right! You should listen to those quixotic tunes more often, rather than dismiss them as child’s play (Seriously try it. Walk down the street with a tune from Space Jam blaring in your headphones and you’ll feel like you can conquer the world with a smile). There is something wise and unadulterated in youth that is worthy of fostering through all of life – and I’m advocating dreaming as one of the worthiest.

Ok, before you think I’ve whimsically and unrealistically lost my marbles – here’s some pragmatism to back up the theory of dreaming and unleash its potential to you for your own benefit in your dance and fitness practice – here on planet earth.

I believe in the power of dreaming because I’ve lived the alternative. I would oscillate back and forth in my mind about what I could and couldn’t do. I had wonderfully supportive parents who told me I could be whatever I wanted to be when I grew up. I believed those words and knew in my soul my passion was to be a professional dancer. However ridden in my dogged belief, self-doubt crept. I had some teachers who harped on me with comments delivered as problems in need of fixing.

“With turnout like that, you are never going to be a dancer.” “Your legs are a real problem; we need to elongate those lines.” “It is hard to make a life for yourself as a professional dancer. What’s your backup plan?”

Inherently those opposing beliefs, spoon-fed to me from outside voices, caused teeter-tottering internal moments of blissful boundless potential and joyless stagnating impossibility. I would walk into a room and sometimes discount myself because the physiques surrounding me gave the allure that those dancers were highly talented. I became acutely aware of all my physical shortcomings and it’s what I saw when I looked at myself in the mirror. Additionally I questioned if I was going to reach the level of success I dreamed of as a performer when audition season was slow and opportunities seemed lacking.

Then something started happening. I realized that dancers who had a body that gave off the appearance of all the potential in the world didn’t always deliver on par with their physical gifts. Physical prowess is just a vessel where expression and artistry are harbored, where the mind has the power to generate it. I excelled in picking up movements and adopting them as my own. No one could limit my mind. I knew confidently that if I mentally understood and could visualize a movement, it was only a matter of time, and often it didn’t take long, to then make it a physical reality on my body. I began to trust my harnessed power of putting my mind behind my movements – both immediate dance moves and career moves – to achieve any results I truly desired.

When I dreamed more and limited less, my dancing – and happiness – soared. Things changed when I visualized myself executing each little movement with sinewy length and openness. These moments gifted me that ultimate level and quality in my dancing, and it started to naturally shift my body’s outside physicality. There’s a general belief out there that what we are given is set and fixed, but there is more malleability and transformation available for us. Now I’m not saying my legs are hyperextended or my turn out rivals that of Misty Copland’s, but those thoughts don’t even cross my mind. Furthermore, my legs have become straighter in their musculature and my turn out more rotated and accessible. Standing in fifth position went from a place of immobile “crunchy” hip flexors and a horribly stuck anterior tip of my pelvis to a place of glorious opportunity for movement. I used to hate wearing tights since they seemingly highlighted my “imperfections,” but last week I wore fitted leggings to an audition and felt awesome.

I don’t have problems with my physicality that need fixing. I have all the potential in the world to execute whatever movement I desire to accomplish, and my body has the capacity to change in support of these desires.

I’m channeling R. Kelly’s “I believe I can Fly” – “If I can see it. Then I can do it. If I just believe it. There’s nothing to it.”

That is freedom.

Ok. I’ll get to the important, concrete details about dreaming, visualizing, and believing that tends to be left out of all this fluffy chatter. (It can’t just be all Space Jam and singsongy starry-eyed melodies, or I’m just preaching a one-way ticket to la-la land without any plan of attack!)

It is not all fluff. The operations of the soul are real. The brain has amazing potential – much of which has barely been fully realized. The words we speak first to ourselves, and then outwardly to others have energy and life to them. They are as real and as tangible in our life as the legs we move with. They create ripples of energy. It is your choice whether you make ripples of positivity or negativity. You need to brainwash yourself and rewire your subconscious towards the positive.

Awesome. How can you do this? (Disclaimer: I’m continuously working on this myself, but here is what I’ve gathered, and you can continue to follow me as I use this method for my future gain!)

For starters, get clear about what it is you want. Don’t just think it. Write it down. Be specific about why, how, where, and when. Write about how a life like this feels. Put a date on when this dream is a breathing reality. Read it to yourself aloud. And then read it again. And again. (I mean, how fun is that!? You get to dream up whatever your heart desires and then believe it into reality!)

Here’s my latest dream – that is written in my journal, exists on a vision board that hangs right near my bed, and is also recorded as a voice memo in my phone (Call me crazy, I’m good with it!). I listen to my own voice recording first thing in the morning and those are the last words I speak to myself before my head hits the pillow. Here’s an abridged version:

I am a forever-inspired performer and teacher. On March 3rd (My 31st birthday!), I am dancing on the Broadway stage and have a thriving business of my own with $100,000 in my possession. My body is physically primed allowing me to reach new physical heights – great flexibility and higher and quicker jumps and footing. Living Dance has a dedicated and involved community – reaching 5,000 followers – and inspires artists and women through dance and dance-related fitness. I teach workshops and private sessions to get dancers and women moving passionately and at their ultimate potential so that they can obtain the results they crave.

Next, listen to your internal dialogue. Which way do you skew (positive or negative)? What’s the tone of your internal voice (optimistic and kind, or pessimistic and demeaning)? Then you immediately replace any negative thoughts or tone with a positive one. I doubted whether I wanted to put the specific dollar amount to my dream in writing for the public to see. What if that level of financial abundance doesn’t work out for me? What if people think I am crazy? I felt a little silly proclaiming something that might seem ridiculous and impossible. Oh hi there fear and self-doubt. You have zero ability to zap my dream away from me; I’m choosing boldness and confidence instead. The specificity and vocalization of these dreams are important. That doubtful voice I heard as I typed proved to me that I could still believe and trust more in the deserved monetary compensation of my efforts. There will not always be teachers or others around you that bless you with the gift of seeing more in yourself, but you absolutely can become more aware when those around you are speaking words of limitation. I beg you to hear them, value your dreams and beliefs more, and discard them. And then you should do yourself the favor of replacing those limiting words, with boundless ones all the same.

It’s not enough to just think, visualize, or dream about your desires. Feel it and be emotionally invested in your dreaming. When you infuse your desire with emotion, your subconscious starts to become infiltrated. When your subconscious, or your soul, doesn’t believe it, that’s when those second-guessing voices creep within yourself. Don’t get mad when they do, it takes time to switch deep-rooted thought processes. Approach it with a lighthearted, fun curiosity. Bottom line, just don’t be like the majority of unfortunate souls who walk around thinking, “How nice it would be if I was in great shape!” Or, “What would feel like to have that kind of career?” You are then missing the valuable element of emotional attachment, and you will not be gifted with the change you are capable of obtaining.

Use your imagination. Not only because it’s fun, but because it is seriously useful. I envision myself taking class in the ultimate fashion. Sometimes I have a larger vision in mind – I’m taking ballet class as if I’m live on the Broadway stage. Sometimes I have a more immediate vision – I close my eyes at barre and envision my body executing the movement to a tee, or do the same thing – but with my eyes open, thank god – in center. All I know is that it is wondrously fun and physically rewarding.

Lastly and essentially, take action on your gut impulses and the external opportunities that arise from this dreaming. Dreaming and visualizing is great and all, but if you keep squandering the thoughts that pop up in your brain about what you can do to make them happen or generate excuses for not taking the opportunities that would advance you closer, those dreams are going to escape you. Applying this in a class setting – whether you are dancing or performing a fitness regimen it is extremely rewarding because you are immediately taking action towards your ultimate physical goal. As those of you who have graced the stage know too well, if you are thinking about your wobbling foot on the floor, you will be sure to keep up that wobbling and have it dictate how the movement goes moving forward. If you think that plank pose is the hardest exercise ever, it will continue to defeat you. If you think of yourself as overweight or out of shape, odds are you will yo-yo back and forth with fad diets, your weight, and confidence. Be mindful; when your thoughts waiver, so does your body!

The dreaming mindset is one essential step in obtaining the results you truly desire. You can execute a quadruple pirouette, get down to your ideal weight, or land a job. It will take commitment, focus of mind, and patience, but if you honestly and diligently put it into effect – and ultimately take action to your internal impulses and external opportunities – it is fail proof. The sky’s your limit. No, I’m serious. Dream big! And then, dream bigger! I’m doing it. Why the hell wouldn’t you?! If you believe yourself, you’ll get what you want!